Globalization & Me

Water is Life: The Global Water Crisis

Hilary Frambes ARE6933 Globalization Art & Education University of Florida July 26, 2011

Globalization & Me

Introduction "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water." - H. Auden Like the human body, the earth consists of mostly water. Without water, there would be no life. The earth is like the human body, with water circulating through it and giving it life (Salina, 2008). Human beings need water to survive. People can go several weeks without food, but without water, even healthy humans will die in a matter of days (Bryant, 2008). Sobering statistics illuminate how dire things have become in the third world, as billions of people do not have access to clean water. From water.orgs website (Mohiuddin, 2011): A child dies every twenty seconds from a water related disease. More people in the world have cell phones than have access to a toilet. In just one day, more than 200 million hours of womens time is consumed for the most basic of human needs: collecting water for domestic use. Almost two in every three people who need safe drinking water survive on less than two dollars a day and one in three on less than one dollar a day. Fresh water is a finite commodity. Less than 1% of the worlds fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use. Water Crisis in the Third World Poor developing countries have been forced to hand over control of their own water supplies to giant water corporations (Salina, 2008). Basically, they are privatizing water and forcing people to pay for something they had always gotten for free. If they cannot afford to pay for water, they find water elsewhere in dirty rivers and streams. Activists and local people are taking notice of this and speaking out. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) force poor countries into privatization and create a system where these countries will never be able to repay their debt. Clean water has become the single most important and essential commodity in the third world. Water Crisis in the United States Our fresh water contains numerous pollutants such as herbicides, pharmaceuticals, and other chemical pollutants such as rocket fuel (Salina, 2008). These pollutants are not fully removed from our water during the filtration process. Large corporations such as Nestle are buying up land with local water sources on them and draining local water supplies (Salina, 2008). Then, they bottle the water and resell it back to consumers with a huge markup. People make the incorrect assumption that bottled water is cleaner and healthier than tap water, when it is indeed no better as tap water is usually the source for bottled water (Baskind, 2010). Plastic water bottles also have a large carbon footprint and research

Globalization & Me
has shown that the chemicals from plastic leach in to the water they contain. Thankfully, local communities are speaking up and protesting these large corporations. Climate Change Climate change is impacting local water supplies in the United States and worldwide. As regions experience record droughts, local economies are affected, as crops cannot be sustained (Streater, 2009). Many of these crops, are not native to the lands they are grown in, require lots of water, and also herbicides and fertilizers, thereby continuing the cycle of degrading the environment (Salina, 2008). As weather patterns evolve due to climate change, the earth experiences large swings in weather systems such as frequent floods and droughts, more violent and catastrophic weather events, which in turn add to the global fresh water crisis.

What Can We Do? As a mother, Im horrified and saddened to see and hear stories of children and families suffering due to lack of access to clean water in the world. Its something we take for granted in our country. We turn on the faucet when we need water and rarely give it a second thought. I cannot in good conscience continue to think of water as something that will always be there for us, even in the industrialized world where it seems plentiful. We must teach our children about the importance of conserving water and call attention to the injustices regarding the privatization of water around the world. We can choose not to support corporations like Nestle who drain local groundwater resources and bottle water for resale at astronomical markups. We can choose to use refillable water containers rather than buying bottled water. We must look for ways to reverse climate change, as this is one of the contributing factors of our dwindling fresh water supplies. We can give to worthy charities like water.org, who are working to empower local communities and help them attain access to clean water. We can do simple things in our own home, such as not running the tap while brushing our teeth and installing a rain barrel to water our gardens. We can encourage our families to run the dishwasher and laundry machine only with full loads and take shorter showers. We are so privileged to have access to clean water in this country. This privilege comes with the responsibility to be good stewards of the earths most valuable resource. Because after all. water means life.

Globalization & Me

References Baskind, C. (2010, March 15). Five reasons not to drink bottled water. Retrieved from http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water Bryant, C. (2008, February 11). How long can you go without food and water? Retrieved from http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/death-dying/live-without-food-and-water.htm Mohiuddin, A. (2011). water.org. Retrieved from http://water.org/ Salina, I (Director). (2008). Flow [DVD]. Available from http://www.flowthefilm.com/ Streater, S. (2009, May 14). Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century dust bowl. The New York Times, Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/14/14greenwire-climate-change-water-shortagesconspire-to-cre-12208.html?pagewanted=all